


Floaties

by Jaydee_Faire



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Gen, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-19
Updated: 2018-05-19
Packaged: 2019-05-08 23:43:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14704956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaydee_Faire/pseuds/Jaydee_Faire
Summary: Sidon tries to do right by Link by teaching him how to swim.





	Floaties

_Oh, bless his heart._

He'd been so sure this would work.

Hylians weren't built to swim, that much was obvious. With their long legs and curly little toes, they were much better suited to walking on dry land, scaling cliffs, running nimbly from whatever was trying to eat them at the moment--

(He himself could only just barely manage to climb into a Hylian-style bed, and he didn't have too much trouble navigating on land as long as he was allowed to go slowly, but trying to run usually ended with his face in the dirt, tailfin flailing)

\-- and though they _could_ swim, after a fashion, it much more resembled the helpless bobbing of a newborn squidlet than the streamlined grace of a stealthfin trout. 

Sidon watched, chin on his fist, as the young Hylian wallowed painfully slowly in the shallow fountain. As Crown Prince of the Zora, Sidon knew himself to be confident, competent, and patient. He thought he'd make an excellent teacher, especially in something as simple as _swimming,_ which he literally could do in his sleep. He'd done all he could, given the Hylian every advantage: aside from the armor made by his sister's fins, he'd found scaled leggings and webbed shoes to turn his awkward feet into flippers, showed him how to slick his yellow hair back and tuck it under a tight hood to keep it from floating into his eyes like seaweed. 

In short, Sidon had made young Link as much like a Zora as possible, and yet there he was, floundering around in shallow water, waving his arms and legs like an overturned starfish. He heard a wet little snicker off to his left and shot the guard a freezing glare, then returned his attention to Link in the pond. 

"Kick, er, kick your legs a bit more," Sidon said, and watched Link flail his skinny limbs again, sinking briefly below the surface before coming up for a spluttering breath of air. Sidon smiled weakly. "There you go, that's, uh. Better," he said. "Here, try floating on your back. That's how--" how tiny Zora hatched prematurely were taught to float on the surface of the water. "--How young Zora learn to swim."

Link was beginning to pant, simply from just laying on the surface like driftwood. That was the other problem: he tired so easily. Little more than a half hour in the water, and then he would--

Sidon launched himself from his seat, diving into the pond and scooping Link off of the rocky bottom and hauling him to shore. He patted the young man's back as he lay there gasping and coughing and wondered, not for the first time, what his sister intended to do with a fiancee who couldn't swim. Perhaps she thought they'd live on land, in a Hylian house somewhere with a big bathtub.

But Link had done so much for the Zora, had worked and fought and bled for them. He had to do all he could to return the favor, even if watching Link nearly drown in the shallowest of puddles was painful and embarrassing. He would keep trying-- for Mipha.

Link turned over, arms spread wide, color slowly coming back to his face. Sidon offered a smile. "Let's try again," he said. "You can do it. I believe in you!"

**Author's Note:**

> Visit me on tumblr @cyberphuck


End file.
